There are two consequences in history; an immediate one, which is instantly recognized, and one in the distance, which is not at first perceived. These consequences often contradict each other; ... look to the end of an accomplished fact, and you will see that it has always produced the contrary of what was expected from it.

There is nothing beautiful or sweet or great in life that is not mysterious.

Music is the child of prayer, the companion of religion.

Let us not disdain glory too much; nothing is finer, except virtue. The height of happiness would be to unite both in this life.

A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which.

We must not always try to plumb the depths of the human heart; the truths it contains are among those that are best seen in half-light or in perspective.

One is not superior merely because one sees the world as odious.